I just switched my remote line from Pronto to URC. I am going to sell the MX-980 to most clients. I am familiarizing myself with the software. My questions is a design issue. On my prontos I used to have a main menu with icons that said watch, listen, play and automation. The menu would then jump to either watch, listen, etc. I notice that the 980 has 2 home buttons which you can program to anything you like, named watch and listen originally. My question is, do most of you use these buttons as is, or do you do what I used to do with my prontos and have a main home button with watch, listen, play etc and then jump to the next menus. If you don't do this, and you keep the watch and listen, how do you handle lights and drapes? Do you just include these inside watch and listen? I am trying to come up with the most user friendly remote possible so any input is appreciated.

You can do it either way. My remote at home has Devices and Theater. When I program it for clients I use watch and listen. If they have lights I would add a lights page for both. But usually that's not an issue.

I use the same layout for each remote so "if" they call with an issue, my sales manager who gets the call doesn't have to remember what layout was used. Easier troubleshooting over the phone if you use the same watch/listen or whatever buttons you choose to use.

Most of my clients are far from being power users so I usually stay away from the DEVICES option.... Beyond that it depends on the room. If you get audio through the TV only there's reason to use the listen button so it's freed up to do lights. If someone is being upgraded from a MX-850 where there was only a "main" button, I might try to keep it that way. If there are multiple remotes I also think it's OK to change the buttons depending on the room as long as it really makes sense.

Thanks for the replies. I will have to make a decision and stick with it. Like said, I don't want to have different templates all over the place because it makes it too hard to troubleshoot. I was thinking about creating a master template with every device possible and just hiding the ones not used. For example, watch tv, dvd, game, lights, drapes and listen to radio, sirius, cd, ipod, tv music. Also a zone 2 with controls. If the client does not have any of the above they will get hidden or removed from the template. Once the template is in place, can I simply change the model of the components like for example a panasonic tv for a samsung and will the template still function properly? A change like that will most likely be the only change I will make from client to client.

Once you've added a device and populated it with pages, alll you have to do is select another make and model from the IR database to replace a device. You will likely have to redo any macros using that device however.

Mike

I do see where he is coming from though. If you use a finite enough amount of gear you might gain some predictability and efficiency. Seems like you never know what you are going to get from the database. Why do they sometimes put the discreet power codes on the hard On and Off, sometimes they put them on the LCD pages, and sometimes like with Yamaha, they're often not included with the model at all. You have sort through a handful of models before getting what you really need. Of course there's no shortage of sound fields.

Of course there is the option of importing everything.

I like to program a button labeled tools on the bottom left of each device page. When you press it it jumps to a page that has a button for lights, drapes, surround mode, etc then pressing the button for what you want jumps to that page to control that option. Pressing back returns to the tools page, where you can choose to do other things in that menu or press back again to return to the original device page.

I have my way of laying out these 2 buttons depending on the system. I feel that it works well. IMHO, the interface of the remote and how intuitive and mentally ergonomic it is it a very key factor. This goes for any control interface for any control system. And it is just as important on the MX980 as it would be on a 17" Crestron panel or a 7" C4 panel, etc. Never mind the thousands of $$ of equipment in the rack, or the hundreds of man hours put into wiring and connecting the system and making the back of the rack look like a piece of art. The one thing the client is going to have his/her hands and eyes on each and every day is that remote control/touch panel. And if it is a PITA to operate, that is what they are going to think of the entire system/install/your company, etc.....

So here is how I do it (normally....of course there are exceptions to this as with anything):

In a single room system without lighting control, I put the standard Watch/Listen. It makes sense to the client and nearly anyone else who picks up the remote.

In a single room system with Lighting control, I use Main, and Lights. The Main button takes you to a page with the Activity Macros on it. The Lights button takes you to a page with the lighting scene buttons on it. I program a "Back" button on this page to take you back to the previous page you were on.

In a 2 zone system without lighting control, I use Main and Zone 2 buttons. Each takes you to the Activity macros for the respective zone. Also, the Off button gets programmed with a press and hold to turn off both zones.

I feel that once you go over 2 subsystems (main zone, 2nd zone, lighting, etc), especially if you have more than 3 or 4 sources, it can get cumbersome. I could do a 2 zone system with lighting control easy enough (and I have)...but more than that is asking for trouble IMHO. I like the "1 remote per TV" rule.

:)

I hate the WATCH / LISTEN idea. What if someone wants to listen to their IPod and the dock uses an on screen GUI like a URC PSX2, where do you put that source? Listen or Watch ? I use 1 button called START whic has ALL the sources on that page and the other button is the ADJUST button that has all the lights, Surround modes, shades, atomation, etc.... on it. I try to give the customer as few page jumps as I can to have them choose a source. I would find it very annoying if I had to do the following to use my system:

Page 1 - Welcome to your home theater, press to begin > page jump to
Page 2 - Do you want to WATCH or LISTEN > page jump to
Page 3 - OOPS, where is my IPOD button? Its not on the LISTEN page. It must be on the WATCH page.

Give the customer as little to think about as possible. Everone understands the word START

That makes a lot of sense. Most people are very simple when it comes to electronics. I didn't like the idea of watch/listen right off the bat. I'm not going to watch playstation, I'm going to play it, and so on. I thought about having one button for automation like lights, drapes, etc, and one main "home" or "start" button. On the home page, do most of you list all of your activities, or separate them into a few pages? I know you said you like to keep it as short as possible with as little pages as possible, but I was thinking of having the home page jump to a watch/listen/play/zone 2/all off page which would then go to the respective pages. If you think this is one jump too many and I should put all the activities on one page let me know. I used to do it this way in my old pronto days and it seemed to work well. I had a main watch/listen/play/lights/zone 2/all off page first. Let me know what you think.

I understand what AVGregg is saying but his analogy of all the button presses is misleading. When I do the Watch/Listen, the Watch page is normally the "home" page. Meaning when you turn the system off, it defaults to that page. Most of the time, clients are using the system to watch tv or play games....so it makes sense this way. You have 1 button press to select the Watch activities, and 2 for the Listen activities. Easy peasy.

So a majority of the time the client picks up the remote, it takes a single button press to "watch" anything. Or they press Listen and select an activity on that page. Video game activities go on the watch page because you obviously are watching them on the TV. I have not had a single client question this logic.

As for the iPod with GUI, or the internet/streaming portion of an AVR, etc., I normally put those on the listen page because it is a most often, if not always, used as music source. I then program the activity macro to turn on the TV. I put TV on and TV off buttons on those device pages so the client can see the GUI when they launch the activity....but turn off the TV when it is no longer needed. And back on again if they need it. Very simple, and again, no complaints or misunderstandings from the clients. Another option I will offer is putting them on both pages....so if you want or need to see the GUI, you select it from the Watch page, and if you do not need to GUI, simply use the activity on the Listen page.

Again, this is only the way I do it if there is no lighting control. If there is lights, I simply use the MAIN or START button and list ALL activites on that page. And then I use the LIGHTS button for direct access to the lighting controls from any activity. I like this approach better, but when there is no lights, then I just revert to the watch/listen mode :)

This may be because I normally do not give much, if any, adustment ability to the client. With the receivers, you can set them up to select the "proper" sound mode for the input signal. And once you set up a display, unless you are getting paid to do an ISF calibration, once it is set, it is pretty much good to go for any source. I have done adjustment pages but I usually put the buttons on page 2 of each device page. So they are there, but not right in front of you begging to be messed with. Most clients do not request or need the adjustments. If they want them, I put them in.

At the end of the day, there is more than one way to do it. They include the interchangeable buttons for a reason. Use them however you wish. And expect lots of different opinions when you ask for them publicly. :)

And for the record, everyone also understands the words Watch and Listen.....(and smell, taste, and touch, for that matter). ;)